Depicting the ongoing
conflict between the human
ISA colonists and the
mutated halfbreed race
known as the Helghast, the
Killzone series has
boasted extremely polished
gameplay, mindblowing
graphics quality, and
fantastic music since its
first title in 2004. With
the recent release of
Killzone 3 (actually the
fourth game in the series,
counting the PSP-exclusive
Killzone: Liberation), we
delve into the rich and
sophisticated music of
JORIS DE MAN, and learn
how one electronic
musician's brave creative
vision brought the
symphony orchestra to the
First-Person Shooter genre
in all its glory.

Join with us as we go with
them all BEHIND THE SCORE
OF KILLZONE 3. In
this edition:

"It's all about expectation," Joris says.
He pauses, and sips from his Coca-Cola can.
Joris, or Joe to his friends, is talking about his
passion: music.
Responding, I ask if that's why songs tend to finish
with a sense of completion.
"Yes," he answers. "But you want to delay that;
it'll heighten the resolution when it finally
arrives."

In hindsight, I wonder if he knew that this would be
his own experience of Killzone 3's music composition
and eventual recording at Abbey Road Studios in
London.

Joris de Man, Ivor Award winning music producer and
composer, recently completed work on Guerrilla
Games's Killzone 3, a triple-A title for Sony's
PlayStation 3.And one could leave it at that. A
consumer of video games, films, and media could
assume that all these products are linear, with a
beginning, middle, and end of their creative
processes.

Looking at the end result of Killzone 3 would lead
to the same assumptions. The game is by all accounts
polished, visual, and cinematic. It sports single
player campaign mode, local co-op, and online
multiplayer. Villains give speeches, and heroes
fight heroically, despite all odds. But stepping
back to October of 2009, the view of this project is
entirely different. That was when Joris signed the
contract to begin work on the music for Killzone 3.

Joris is no stranger to this
franchise. As the Audio Director of the first
Killzone game, he oversaw both the music and the
sound design. His work can be heard in the sequel,
Killzone 2, and the PSP incarnation of the series,
Killzone: Liberation. His circumstances have changed
since that first game, sure. Back then, he was
in-house at Guerrilla, based in The Netherlands. Now
he lives in the UK, working from the south coast,
outside Brighton. When the hours are long, he takes
his dog, Sadie, out on the pebble beach to walk.

But with all this experience, he still couldn't have
known the difficulties he would encounter in the
ensuing period of work, nor how those hardships
would shape the music he was to create.

Review:
Killzone 3

Back
in the Zone
Review by Marius Masalar

Followers of our reviews who have
been around for a while will recall
that KILLZONE 2 was one of the few
reviews that we’ve given a ten to. I
still find myself very frequently
enjoying the score, and together
with my appreciation for the game
itself, the approach of Killzone’s
latest sequel was a point of eager
anticipation. Having set the bar so
high in the previous titles,
composer JORIS DE MAN was left with
the challenge of outdoing himself
yet again, building upon the musical
legacy he had forged, and saying
something new in the process. Has he
succeeded? Oh boy.

Having listened so many times to the
mighty Helghast March from the first
and second games, I — like most fans
— was expecting a reprise of that
theme to start off the KILLZONE 3
album. Instead, “Main Menu — Ever We
Fight On” (1) opens with a
profoundly sorrowful and moving solo
violin theme, gently accompanied by
the rest of the orchestra in a
somber overture…yet again, DE MAN
achieves the element of surprise and
catches us off-guard! Even when the
horns and choir come in, bringing a
sense of grandeur to the latter half
of the cue, the mood is noticeably
darker than the previous games,
mirroring the dire circumstances of
the protagonists.

“Birth of War — Dies Irae” (1-2) is
perhaps more familiar, not only
carrying the previous main theme’s
title, but also bringing that theme
back in renewed form. The fact that
the audience is now comfortable with
the motifs has given DE MAN the
opportunity to develop them in more
sophisticated ways than he would
have previously been able to. The
track flies by, with the choir and
brass statements soaring to a
triumphant climax before ending on a
noble march. Carrying on
straightaway, “Just A Moment Ago”
(1-3) begins with a deep orchestral
atmosphere before dissolving into a
plaintive duet between the solo
violin and a trumpet. It isn’t until
midway through the cue that the
action returns, with brass
flourishes that would feel right at
home in an ALAN SILVESTRI or JOHN
WILLIAMS action score. This
tumultuous track also introduces a
catchy march theme with its
conclusion before passing it off to
“Stahl and Orlock Square Off” (1-4),
where it is developed further.

“There are strong and
memorable themes,
there's solid
development, lush
orchestration,
storytelling quality,
and excellent
production values —
what's not to love? If
you like well-crafted,
extremely cinematic
music for your video
games, then you can't
go wrong with KILLZONE
2.”